The Last Letter
by Rated-RKORyder
Summary: It's the 1940's and World War to is in action. Randy gets drafted while his new wife is home by herself for 4 years. Crappy summary, but awesome story lol trust me.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Randy brushed a tear away from his wife's cheek. He put down his bag and looked at her. The sun lit up her tear streaked face and dark brown hair. She looked beautiful; just like the first time he saw her. It was two years ago; three days after his 18th birthday. He just walked into Lisa's Café for lunch. There she was getting up from her booth in the back reading a book. The noontime sun reflected off her light blue barrettes in her deep brown hair... Her white sundress rustling as she moved. Randy started walking toward her, just as she looked up from her book. Startled she bumped into a busboy carrying a pitcher full of water. Randy hurried toward the girl to help. As their hands touched, his blue eyes met her brown ones. He smiled.

"Hi, I'm Randy,"

"I'm Melina." She replied, smiling.

Now here they stood in their front law, two years later as departing newlyweds. Melina held onto the sleeves of his Army uniform.

"Do you really have to go?"

He stared into her eyes for a few moments before answering.

"It's only for four years, I promise. It'll go by so fast; I'll be back before you know it." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Four years is a long time, Randy. A very long time." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you. You come home in four years and we'll start our family. I promise."

Randy was glad she wasn't looking at his face. He could already feel the hot tears rolling down his cheek.

"I love you too. I have to get going."

He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. He gave her a hug and kiss, then bent down and picked up his bag. Standing back up, He looked up at her once more before he turned and started walking down the road.

**September 17, 1941.**

"Randy! You've got mail!"

Randy walked over to John.

"Thanks."

He took the letter from his and walked back towards his barracks. He sat down and opened the letter. It said:

_My Dear Randy,_

_How are you? I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since we since we said goodbye. I miss you my dear. I can't wait until the war is over and you can come back home._

He laughed when he read about the little children who lived nearby getting into the garden and was saddened by the news of the people who died. Every month he got a new letter from Melina. But then three years later, the letters stopped coming. His last letter came in June 2, 1944 and it said;

_Randy,_

_I have some great news for you. I'm going to have a baby. I'm currently only two months along. You're going to be a father! I can't wait for you to come home,_

_Melina_

It's now July 24, 1944 and it's a humid day where he's stationed. He walked around the base as he waited for the mail. As the mail came in he found John.

"Hey John. Any mail for me?"

"Sorry, Randy. Not today." He frowned shaking his head.

"Oh. Okay."

As he was about to turn around and leave he asked, "Are you sure I have nothing?"?"

John Nodded. His anxiety and curiosity grew as weeks went by without letters from Melina.

One hot day as he lay in his cot, the sirens started blaring. A group of soldiers walked through the barracks yelling, "We're under attack we're under attack!"

Randy scrambled to get his gear on. As they all piled into the truck, he could hear soldiers whispering, "we're gonna die."

He gripped his rifle for dear life.

"Okay, when I say out everyone get out of the truck, run and find cover."

"Ready…"

Suddenly there was an explosion 20 yards from the truck. Then bullets started flying through the air.

"…GO!"

Feeling his heart race, Randy jumped and ran out toward a tall dirt mound as bullets flew past him and dove behind it. He felt a sharp pain in his right arm. A bullet must have grazed it.

"Are you Okay?"

A soldier ducked behind the dirt mound beside him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just grazed my arm." He shouted over the sound of the firepower.

Randy looked out behind his dirt stronghold. It was clear enough for him to move. Gripping his rile, he army crawled to another mound 6 feet away. About a foot away from safety he felt a sharp pain in his side.

_I got to make it to that mound._

Every time he moved, it felt as though there was a knife sticking out of his side. Holding his side with one hand, he tried to pull himself forward with the other. For a moment all he could see was Melina's smiling face. Parts of her letter drifting back to his mind.

_You're going to be a father!_

Slowly he inched his way to the mound.

_I have to keep conscious. _He thought. He could feel his blood from his wound on his hand. As soon as he was safely behind the rampart, he blacked out.

Randy opened his eyes. His hands were bound behind his back. He was in a small, dank cell that was made of stone. There was a single stream of light coming in through the cracks in the wall. The cell smelt of blood, mold, waste and vomit. He tried not to breathe in too much. He looked down at his side and saw it was bandaged up.

_You're going to be a father._

"How can it be?" He asked himself over and over again. "I've been here for 3 years."

He looked up as he heard a lock click. He straightened up to get a better look at his capturer. A Japanese officer walked into the room carrying am Arisaka Type 38 rifle.

"Get up"Follow me." He said in broken English.

Randy stumbled as he tried to stand.

"Hurry!"

He led him down a long poorly lit hallway; they came to a large metal door.

"Get in there."

He pushed him into the room with the tip of the rifle. From what Randy gathered, he was in an interrogation room. In the room there was only a single chair and an uncovered light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Sit!"

He sat in the chair and waited for the questioning to begin.

"Better place or worse place." The officer said.

For a moment, Randy had no idea what the man was talking about. Then the officer put his face a couple inches away from Randy's.

"Tell us what we want to know!"

Randy looked him in the eye and replied, "Randy Orton, Lieutenant J.g, 617514, 1 April 1923."

Unsatisfied, the officer hit him in the stomach with the wooden stock of his rifle. Huddled over in pain, Randy let out short breaths.

"Take him away."

Two young Japanese soldiers came in and grabbed Randy while the officer blindfolded him.

"Until you tell us what we want to know, things will get worse and worse for you."

The soldiers then pushed him down the hallway they turned down a couple other hallways and through a door. They pushed him into the back of what Randy figured to be a military vehicle. He heard a couple of soldiers talking to each other in Japanese before somebody yelled, "GO!"

As they reached their destination, the two grabbed him and grabbed him, pulling him out the truck hauled him off. When in the building, they practically dragged Randy down two hallways and stopped. He heard the jingle of keys, the click of a lock and was thrown into the room. One soldier came in and removed the blindfold and unbound his hands. The other put a tray of food only feet away from Randy. Waiting until the door was closed and locked, Randy inched his way toward the tray. There was a piece of stale bread, a bowl of broth and a piece of chicken that had specks of mold. He looked closer to see there were little bugs in the soup. Disgusted, he pushed the tray away. An hour later, the lock clicked and the officer was back.

"Are you ready to tell us what we want to know?"

He stepped on the tray as he walked forward. Looking down, he smirked.

"I see you didn't like your meal. Maybe we can come to…an agreement,"

He signaled for a soldier who came in with a tray of steaming food in his hand. The tray consisted of chicken, rice, and a roll. Looking at it, Randy's mouth started to water. The officer knelt own down in front of his prisoner.

"If you give me the information I want, I'll feed you exactly what my soldier is holding right now."

_Don't give in, Randy. _He told himself. _He's lying. Don't trust him._

"No." He finally managed to say, looking away from the food.

The officer's gaze darkened.

"Fine."

He stood back up and walked toward the door.

"Take him away….away to a worse place."

Then he marched out the door. The 'better place or worse place' interrogations, the moldy food, the small, dank cells and the abuse went on for about a year. This all ended May 2nd, 1945. The officer came to the door. Randy looked up. He was filthy with a full beard growing. His side was fully healed.

"Lieutenant Orton, the war is over. There is a truck outside that is ready to take you back to your base."

He stood up and followed as the soldiers escorted him outside. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the bright May sun. He walked over to the truck that the soldiers pointed to. A young Japanese soldier saluted him.

"I will be your escort to the US Army base, Lieutenant Orton."

Randy nodded.

"Carry on."

As he got to the base he was welcomed by a fellow lieutenant.

"Welcome back Lieutenant Orton."

He nodded before he walked back to his barracks. Other soldiers welcomed him back as he made his way to his cot. He rummaged through his bag until he found what he was looking for. He picked up the picture of Melina.

"Melina." He whispered. He grabbed all his belongings and stuffed it back into his bag. After having a shower and shave, he changed into a new uniform.

_Let's go Home. _ He said silently to himself.

On the ride back to Saint Louis, Missouri he looked at the picture of Melina. He reopened his bag and took out one of her letters.

_I'm going to have a baby. You're going to be a father._

He couldn't wait to see her. He close his eyes and saw her in her white dress like the day they met.

"Melina."

As the bus pulled up to his house, he could see, as if it were yesterday, him and his wife standing in the front lawn holding each other. He could still hear her words in his head.

_I love you._

He said his goodbyes and walked up the walk to his front door. He lifted up the rug in front of the door, grabbed the key and unlocked it. The house was silent and still.

"Melina?"

He set his bag down.

"Hello?"

To his right, on a table there was a letter. Picking it up he turned it over to see, _To Randy _sprawled across the envelope. Turning it back over he opened it. It had today's date.

_05-May-1945_

He read:

_Randy,_

_Welcome home Soldier. I'm so happy you're okay. After all, our daughter needs you. Yes. We have a daughter. Her name is Alana. Alana Orton. She's upstairs in our room in her crib. By now you're probably wondering how we have a child. Also you're probably wondering how when you've been away from 3 years already and I was suddenly pregnant. Well, this isn't easy to tell you. With you being away for so long I started to get lonely. I cheated on you. I cheated on you and got pregnant. I'm not proud of it but I thought that I should confess my sin and then maybe I can see you again in heaven someday. Unable to face you, I left our daughter in your care. I know you'll be an amazing father to her. Unfortunately this is my last letter. I'm not coming back. I can never forgive myself for what I did to you. I'm so sorry, Randy. Take care of yourself and our daughter._

_I'll always love you,_

_Melina_

Randy's tears smudged the ink as they fell on the page. He sunk down to his knees.

"Why?" He whispered.

Hearing a faint noise, he stayed still for a moment and listened. He could hear the faint cry of a baby coming from upstairs. Standing up he wiped his tears with the back of his sleeve. He set the letter down on the table and climbed the stairs. As he climbed the crying got louder and louder. As he walked into his room he saw the cradle. He walked over and peered inside. There she was. His beautiful dark brown haired, brown eyed daughter. Her little hands in fists and her face was red. She settled down a little as she opened her eyes and looked up at Randy. He smiled. She started to fuss again so he gently lifted her from her crib.

"Shh. It's okay. Daddy's here." He soothed as he gently rocked back and forth. As she started to settle down, he sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room. Gently he rocked back and forth. As he rocked, he talked to her.

"Hi Alana. I'm your daddy." He whispered smiling.

And for the first time he's seen, she smiled at him.


	2. Epilogue

_**4 Years later- June 7th, 1947**_

"Higher daddy!" Alana squealed excitedly as Randy pushed his daughter on the swing.

"Are you sure?" Randy chuckled. "You're pretty high already."

"Higher!"

"Alright... but we'll be leaving in five minutes to head to Lisa's Cafe for some lunch."

"Okay!" Alana smiles.

Randy gives Alana one last big push and grins as she squeals with delight. Ten minutes pass before Randy finally grabs the swing and slows it down.

"Aww." Alana pouts.

Randy circles around to face her and kneels down. She looks at him with her big brown eyes. Her deep brown hair is about shoulder length and wavy with light blue barrettes. She's wearing a white sundress which rustles softly in the warm summber breeze. He smiles at her. She looks just like Melina when Randy first met her.

"Ready to go?" He pouting she nods.

Randy stands up and lifts her off the swing and sets her down before she grabs his hand. They start to walk up the sidewalk away from the park when Alana lets out a "Oh!" She lets go of Randy's hand and runs back to the slide.

"What are you doing?" he calls after her.

"I forgot my bunny!" She says as she disappears behind he wood and metal jungle gym. Randy chuckles to himself.

"Wow... She's beautiful." A woman's voice says from behind him. He grins and nods, his back to her.

"Yeah she is." He replies, turning to face the woman. "She looks just like her..." His voice trails off as he sees her. Navy blue sundress with white polka dots, matching navy blue ribbon in her deep brown wavy hair, bright brown eyes, ruby red lips... his beautiful Melina.

"Melina..." He whispers.

She gives him a shy smile. "Hello Randy."

He stares at her for a moment before his eyes were so many questions running through his mind but he asked the one question that plagued him these past 4 years. "Why?"

Her smile falters. "What do you mean?"

His breathing got shallow and he looked off in the distance for a moment. "Why did you do it?" He asks softly. He looks up at her with his pale blue eyes.

Sighing, she looked over at Alana. "It was a mistake Randy... I didn't mean to hurt you." She steps forward but stops as she sees his body stiffen. "I just wish I could tell you what had all happened while you were gone..."

Randy opens his mouth to speak just as Alana runs upto him, her stuffed rabbit in her hand. She looks from her father to the stange woman then back to Randy. "Daddy?"

Trance broken for a moment, he looks down at her. "Hey sweetie. Ready to go?"

She nods and hugs his arm, tugging it slightly. Randy kneels to her level. "What's wrong?"

She looks at Melina who smiles at her before whispering, "Who is that, Daddy?"

Randy's gaze flickers over Melina. "Who's this?" He asked. "This is..."

"I'm a friend of your father's." Melina says.

Randy looks at her for a moment before slowly nodding. "Yeah...she's...a friend." He stands up and takes Alana's hand and looks down at her. "So ready for a grilled chesse sandwich?"

Alana gives him a big toothy grin. "Yes!"

Melina crosses her arms and rubs them as if she suddenly became cold and looks off into the distance. " Well, I should probably get going..."

Randy frowns. "Oh..." He looks at Alana then Melina. "Do you have any plans for lunch?"

She shakes her head. "Not really... I was thinking about just going back to my little apartment and making some lunch..."

"How about you join us?" He suggests. "Afterwards we can head back to house and talk while Alana plays outside."

Melina smiles and nods. "That would be wonderful."

_**After lunch- Back at the house**_

While Alana played outside, Melina and Randy sat at the kitchen table.

"Alright..." Randy said setting two glasses of sweet tea before them. "What happened?"

Grabbing a glass of tea and moving it closer to her she sighed. "Well... I missed you terribly and my friend, Angie, was tired of seeing me moping around the house...

_*Flashback- Melina POV*_

_My friend had taken me out to this bar for a some drinks. We were having a wonderful time just talking and drinking when my friend looked past me and grinned. "What?" I asked._

_"That man over there is looking at you." She tittered._

_I look behind me and sure enough a young man a little older than me smiled at me. I turn around and look down at my drink. Even in my tipsy stsate I noticed she was right. Angie giggled._

_"Go dance with him!" She urged. I looked over at him once more. He was quite handsome. Short black hair, dark olive skin, great smile, slightly built wearing a somewhat tight button up shirt and slacks. I look back at my table again shaking my head, blushing._

_"I can't..."_

_"You can!" She urged again. She looked up. "And here he comes!"_

_I don't even need to turn around to know he's right behind me. "Excuse me Miss." A deep voice says behind me. I slowly turn to him._

_"Hello..." I smile._

_"Hi." He grins. "My name is Tony and I was wonderin' if you'd care to dance?"_

_"Um..."_

_"Of course she would!" Angie eclaims. "She'd love to!"_

_I send her a look before turning to see Tony hold out his hand. I hesitantly take it and walk out to the dancefloor with him. We dance a lot of the night and the more I drink, the more he looked like Randy. I knew the alcohol had to be messing with my head._

_He spun me around and then whispered in my ear. "Shall we leave?"_

_My mind thinking he's Randy, I nod. "Let's go back home."  
We head out and the last thing I remember was waking up the next morning unclothed, in an unknown bed on 1st street. Embarrassed, I gathered my clothes, redressed and quickly scampered home. I saw him later that day when I was out running errands._

_'Sorry for leaving you this morning." He said shyly. "I got a call and had to report down to the Military office. I'm being drafted."_

_*end flashback*_

After a week after he was sent out, I found out I was pregnant with Alana." Melina finishes. She slowly looks purses his lips. "I never meant to hurt you, Randy." She says quietly.

Randy thinks about all this for a moment. "Why did you tell me Alana was mine? Does he know? Where is he? Why isn't he taking care of her?" He asks.

A tear slipped down her cheek before she brushed it away making Randy's heart melt. Why did she have to be so devistatingly beautiful? "He never found out since he was killed in battle a month later. I found out about you still being alive and... I knew you'd be a wonderful father." She looks him in the eye. "I always knew you would be and now I'm seeing it."

"But what about a mother? Sure she has a father now, but what am I going to tell her when she gets older? She already asks about her mother." He says.

"I don't know..." She saysas another tear falls. "Maybe you'll remarry..."  
Standing from his seat he kneels before her and takes her hand. "I don't want to remarry. Regardless of what happened, I want you. Please...stay. If not for me, at least for Alana. She needs a mother."

Melina shakes her head. "But... I'm a terrible person! Look what I did!

Cupping her face like he used to, he slowly kisses her teardrops as they slide down her cheeks before looking into her eyes. "What you did?" He whispers. "What you did is give me the greatest gift a man could ask for. You gave me the gift of hearing a child's voice every morning. You gave me a little girl that makes every day a day worth living for."

"But I cheated." She sniffs. "How can you forgive that?"

"I forgive you because you're human and I love you, Melina." You made a drunken mistake but I got a beautiful daughter out of it all."

"Really?" She says.

He leans in and presses a small kiss to her lips before resting his forehead against hers. "But I just ask one thing..."

"What is it?" She whispers.

"Will you come back to us? Make us a family? Help me raise Alana?"

She pulls away to look at him. "Of course." She smiles. "I love you Randy."

"I love you too." He says before kissing her again. As they break away he grins and grabs her hand. "Now come on. Come meet your daughter."

With a smile of her own, she follows Randy out to the yard.


End file.
